wanderer1

We are contemplating a trip next May to the Greek Isles. Top on my list is Santorini, but I know there are many more lovely islands to see.

We live in Boston, and would fly to London, then on to Athens.

Given the travel time, and that fact that I had a scare with my leg swelling on our last flight to Italy, we were thinking of breaking the trip up so that we spend the night in London, then have a couple of days there, then fly to Athens then on to Santorini, then spend another night or two in London on the way home.

Does this make sense? We have never seen London before, and don't know what we'd get to see in that amount of time. Too much, not enough?

Secondly, and more importantly, is 5 full days in Santorini enough? This is our main destination, so we don't want to shortchange it.

We most likely won't have time for an overnight at another island, but would there be boats in May that we could visit another island? Which would you recommend?

Our itinerary would look something like:

Fly out PM from Boston - arrive London AM

London for day - and PM
London - full day to tour and PM

Fly London to Athens- travel to Santorini

Santorini PM

Santorini full day and PM
Santorini full day and PM
Santorini full day and PM
Santorini full day and PM
Santorini full day and PM

Travel Santorini to Athens and fly Athens to London
(Stay in London - PM)

London full day and PM
London full day and PM

Fly London to Boston

cheryllj

May is a great time to visit the Greek islands. I just visited Santorini (among others) this May and had a fabulous time.

1. If you are going to visit London, it deserves more time than you are giving it - there is a LOT to see and do. I would take 1 or 2 days from Santorini to add to London.

2. You are just going through Athens without stopping overnight even once? I doubt that will work logistically, given the limited number of flights/ferries from Santorini-Athens in May.

At the very least, you should plan on spending one night in Athens before the flight back to London.

grapes

I think your plan is good. Shortening travel time, given your prievious experience, sounds wise. 4 full days in London is enough IMHO since Santorini is your objective. If you shaved a day off London, you might be able to fit in a second island. If you fly to Santorini and make your reservation well in advance, I can not imagine why transportation should be an issue. Have fun planning this great trip!

bozama

I think 5 full days in Santorini is overly generous, I mean, it is not like there are THAT many things to do there, its about relaxing, enjoying the beach( ? May?) and seeing a few ruins.. I think 4 days is more then enough, and , I think London can certainly eat up another day easily. London deserves a full week, but, I would say that 3-4 days can at least give you a taste.
I agree that its a good idea to break up the flight.

Have you looked into some of the Europeon based discount airlines that may possibly offer direct to Santorini flights, I have no idea if that is possible, and even if it is , if they would run them in May which is still shoulder season.

wanderer1

If we were to do another island, which would you recommend?

Day trip or overnight?

Is it not possible to fly to Athens and then catch a ferry to Santorini without overnighting in Athens? (we really didn't want to)

cheryllj

It may or may not be possible -- iirc most ferries from Piraeus to Santorini leave early in the morning. It's not like there is a ferry leaving every hour of the day, and flights are pretty limited in May also.

You would have to check the schedules for a specific day, and ferry schedules often aren't available until a month or two ahead of time. Flights, otoh, can be booked well in advance.

travelerjan

Wanderer, if you have a flight from london that gets in to Athens airport by 10:30 or so, there are daily flights on Aegean Air at either 1 pm or 2:30 pm, depending on the day. You shold have no problem with the connection. I myself have done it 2x, and 2x with connection via Aegean to Crete.

I assume what you want to do is mainly sit on your lovely terrace in Oia and look at the famous view. That is what Santorini is mostly about today. The Akrotiri ruins are closed, most people don't do the black beaches in May, and anyway water in beach OR pools is too chilly yet.

There aren't a lot of other "sights". One can climb the cliff to Ancient Thera, but with leg problems, I don't advise it. Honeymooners find plenty to do (snicker)... BrotherleeLove can be amused there for a month at a time ... exhausted people can sit all day without moving -- but others report that 3 days on Santorini is enough. "People-watching" will be mostly watching other tourists, and "authentic villages" (another item on many wish-lists) are best sought on less-promoted islands. I'm curious about what other activities you may have in mind that might take more than 5 days.

Regarding your return trip... you MAY be able to get a flight to Athens airport early, and then a flight to London, but you would have to plan carefully so Your london flight would be in late afternoon, just in case.

wanderer1

Thanks for the info.

When we travel, yes, we like to see the "sights" but our most enjoyable moments are just hanging out.

Going to the cafes, poking in the shops, enjoying a glass of wine on our terrace, a nice meal at a casual (non-dressy, non-expensive restaurant).

We just got back from 3 nights on Capri, and we could have spent a week. Likewise of Positano, where we spent a week, and could have spent a month.

Some people don't understand. There's no "sights" on Positano. We did day trips, but our jobs are such that to get away from the high pressure and languish is all we need, We just want to make sure (and I know there are no guarantees) we have plenty of sun, and don't go during rainy season to save a few bucks.

brotherleelove2004

I'm with you, Wanderer1! When I go to Santorini it's for 4 weeks, which is just about right for me. It doesn't take much to keep me occupied. I like to wander, read, nap, swim, visit old friends, meet new ones and generally just hang out and relax. Some people just can't sit still long enough to do that, let alone for 4 weeks, but however long you stay I guarantee you'll want to return one day.

wanderer1

Will this give us time to visit another island?

Which one?

Overnight or day trip?

brotherleelove2004

You could go to Ios or Naxos for a few hours. Whether or not you would go on an overnighter depends on if you're enjoying Santorini.

chris45ny

I also have had problems with my leg-especially ankle area-swelling on airplane fights. I was concerned about this as last Sept. we would be flying from NY to Beijing-a very long trip. My neighbor recommended that I buy therapeutic supportwear. I purchased JOBST 8-15 mmHg. This is compression hosiery that improves circulation and reduces swelling. I discussed this with my doctor who approved. I got the knee high ultra sheer which looks great. I can't believe how well this worked-not a bit of swelling!! Here's the website www.jobst.com Also discuss this with your doctor to see if this might work for you as you didn't say why your legs swelled on your flight to Italy. Our best friends are Greek. Born in Crete. Have 2 homes there. Crete is a good base to island hop via ferry. Santorini is a thumbs up-just beautiful. Enjoy your time in London and the isles.

wanderer1

Thank you very much!

They don't know why this time my ankles swelled, as I have traveled extensively - longest flight to Japan - and never had this happen. Perhaps it has to do with getting older.

The Dr. thought that because I slept on the way home, had a glass of wine, pretzels with salt, and coffee, that contributed to the problem.

He told me that you should get up and walk a minimum of every 30 minutes.

The airlines really should publicize this, but I'm sure they don't because they don't want people walking around in the aisles. However, of course a DVT can be fatal and quick, so it is important.

I'll definitely check out the stockings.

wanderer1

Paros sounds interesting as does Crete (Chania).

Are either of these doable as day trips from Santorini?

cparris

It would be difficult to do a day trip to either. The best thing to do is to reasearch what nearby island you would like to visit that has ferry service to Santorini and then plan accordingly.

travelerjan

Unfortunately Santorini ferries are not set up very well for day trips.. especially pre-season, as in May. You'd have to check upon arrival. To do so I recommend going to the PORT OFFICE, on Fira TOwn SQUARE; they know ALL ferry sailings for the week. Sometimes ticket agencies don't tell about ferries they don't act for.

TIP- using OPEN SEAS ferry website you can click BACK one month and pick a sample date in May 2008, to give u an idea of offerings. On gtp.gr site, can't backdate, but u can look at 9/2008 as an off-season "sample". If u choose "any" for day, u see the pattern for a month.

IOS - easier to reach, only 45-50 mins. Can get there most days by 11 or 12. Most days, last ferry back is around 4 pm; 1 x per week, 9 pm.

NAXOS-- 2 or 2.5 hours; earliest u can get there is 12:30-1. Most days the last ferry is at 3;30-4pm -- 1-2 x per week, a late (9 or 11pm) boat.

.. Either isle, you'd have to go on a particular day to make it feasible.

pointofnoreturn

Spend as many days in Santorini as you can - 4 nights there didn't even seem enough. I should probably mention that you'll lose almost an entire day flying/ferrying to Santorini and then getting from the airport/port to your hotel. It's certainly a long day and buses aren't as frequent from the airport/port so you must rely on taxis.

wanderer1

This may be too vague a question, and I know alot depends on our flights.

We are thinking of not doing the London stopover, but spending time in Athens both coming and going, to rest, see the Acropolis, etc., and make for less hectic connections. '

The flights we were looking at arrive in Athens at 4:30pm, and we don't want to be scrambling to get a hydrofoil (our preferred method of travel).

The flights on the way home appear to leave Athens very early - 9am or so, so again, we thought we'd spend the night in Athens rather than in London. Too many stops.

If we do this, it might give us time to spend time (was thinking 2-3 nights) on another island rather than trying to squeeze in a day trip from Santorini. I'm not a big fan of day trips. Too rushed, and you miss alot. Not our style.

Anyway, have been reading, looking a pictures on greeka.com, guidebooks, etc, and am more confused than ever about which other island to visit. I don't know if we'd like Mykonos - we're not into the party scene. Paros sounded nice, then I read the nice parts are rather hard to get to. Naxos is a possibility, but it doesn't seem to score high for beauty.

I'm intrigued by Hydra and Sifnos, what little I have read. We basically want a place with good food, low key atmosphere, shops, cafes, pretty island, where we can laze and amble about and just relax. We love Positano and Capri in Italy if that gives you any idea of our taste.

Does it make sense to stay in one island chain, or are they pretty easy to get around from one to the other? We want to make this the least complicated as we can - after all it is vacation!!

(we will have a total of 14 days, counting travel days and one day at home when we return).

brotherleelove2004

Hydra, Spetses and Aegina are all good choices since they're all so close to Athens by frequent ferry. Hydra is very charming since motorized vehicles aren't allowed. Otherwise choose an island in the same group to minimize travel time. I like Paros, but I do rent a motor scooter for exploration. Without that "tool" getting around is not as easy on the bus as on some other islands, but there's lots to see and do in the main village. There's a small archaeological museum and the Church of 100 Doors as well as lots of shops.

wanderer1

Purely subjective, I know, BL, but of those 4 islands which would you consider to be the most charming and a "fit" for us given what I've told you we like in other places?

I like the idea of Hydra, but don't know enough about the others yet. (I do very much like the idea of no cars!)

I've not seen anything in my guidebooks that says there is ferry/hydrofoil service from Hydra to Santorini. How frequent is it?

Is there any rhyme or reason to doing the other island first or last?

We'd be unlikely to rent a scooter or a car, as my husband really doesn't want to do any driving this trip.